Gaddafi claims he has support of Libyans

Col Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's ruler for 41 years, has denied the existance of
an uprising against him and told the BBC that his people 'love him'.

8:08AM GMT 01 Mar 2011

In an interview with the BBC, Sunday Times and America's ABC network the Libyan leader said he would not leave Libya.

Despite theBBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen insisting that he had seen demonstrations with his own eyes Gaddafi said: “No, no one against us. Against me for what? Because I am not president. They love me, all my people with me. They love me all. They will die to protect me, my people.”

However, during the interview, which took place in a restaurant in Tripoli, Gaddafi also said he had been betrayed by the United States.

"I'm surprised that we have an alliance with the West to fight Al-Qaeda, and now that we are fighting terrorists they have abandoned us," he told Christiane Amanpour, suggesting protests in Libya were started by terrorists.